Posters urging us to discover "the new legendary bottle" from Coca-Cola have invaded Paris. It is a powerful pitch. But does reality live up to the promise?
One of the essential factors that contribute to the brand's aesthetics is quite evidently the "Contour" bottle, and it is interesting to recall the original brief: "We want a bottle that can be recognized even blindfolded" ... and which, "is recognizable even when broken". The bottle was made of glass until PET arrived on the scene: None of the PET bottles so far (especially the large sizes) resembled the original. The last 2-liter bottle is a woeful example.
We have become familiar with a major innovation from Coca-Cola over the last few years: it created a new iconic bottle in aluminium - a replica of the "Contour" bottle, but decorated by famous designers (Nathalie Rykiel, Karl Lagerfeld, 8 fashion designers from Italy, Daft Punk, and others).
These bottles were created at the initiative of the French and Italian subsidiaries - thereby instating Coca-Cola as a "trendy" brand, inscribing it in the fashion world. They are a far cry from the supermarket shelves where the very unsightly PET bottles reigned supreme.
But now, on the occasion of its 125th anniversary, Coca-Cola is launching a series of sales strategies relating to the bottle. They can be divided into two groups:
- The "exclusive" back to basics: In the U.S. Coca-Cola is offering collectors limited editions of the "Contour" bottle in crystal or gold plated, and in Europe, a series of 4 iconic bottles (the 4 original designs, including the "Contour"), sold at Colette in France and Selfridges in Great Britain (costing 50% more in France!).
- A return to its origins for the general public: A new 1.25 litre bottle (costing less than $1 in the U.S.) has been launched - a replica of the "Contour" shape in PET. The commercial for the launch shows, with humour, how the brand has accepted the fact that the previous inelegant bottle had to be reinvented.
This initiative has two positive effects:
- It will give new meaning to the brand by placing great emphasis one of its iconic emblems.
- It will counterbalance the very recent and very European movement that was drawing the brand towards the fashion world - something that is quite contrary to Coca-Cola, a brand that is a symbol of popular American culture (and which has nothing in common with European fashion and trends). The brand might wish to ask itself the question of how to reinvent the bottle as an icon of popular culture, taking a page from the French initiative: have the aluminium bottle decorated by popular rap stars, for example.
